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I'm a wannabe WinMo convert, and my new Droid X will arrive later today. As I surf the web trying to be as ready as possible for the transition, I'm struck by the fact that Android doesn't sync directly with Outlook. And to shortcut the immediate responses, I will never want to sync my personal & private info with "The Cloud" for all the world of hackers to see. The number of times (just within the past year alone) that we've all seen news reports of some supposedly secure Big Brother company having its servers hacked and its users' personal info stolen, means that cloud sync is not now - and may well never really be - a secure option.
From what I can gather from several hours of scouring the reviews, the cobbled-together 3rd-party apps that attempt to allow one to sync an Android phone directly to one's own computer - either via WiFi, BT or a USB cable - all fall short in some critical way or other, such as not including all of Outlook's data fields for a Contact. The data never appears on the phone, and when syncing back to the PC, those particular fields get erased on the PC too! So there's only limited success with "The Missing Sync" & "CompanionLink." (And Android-Sync is still a pre-alpha.)
This leads to the question. What desktop PIM software do you all use --- BESIDES Outlook?
Thanks!
Why don't you directly sync your X with the exchange server you're connected to with Outlook?
onelifexv said:
Why don't you directly sync your X with the exchange server you're connected to with Outlook?
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He didn't indicate he had an exchange server. Just Outlook on his desktop.
Mason,
As much as I agree with your privacy arguments (and believe me, my friends and associates argue about this all the time), I just don't think Android is going to be fully functional for you if don't "let it go" and put those contacts on your google account.
I went through this when Droid 1 Launched. I had all of my data on my exchange server, and refused to move it to Google. Android 2.01 worked with exchange, but just barely. The whole process frustrated me, and I ended up taking the phone back and getting a TouchPro2.
Since then, I've given in and begun migrating my company info over to Google Apps. I still have my exchange server in the meantime, but all of my mail, etc is going through Google Apps for Domains. This time around, with Droid X, my sync experience is working a lot better.
I know that's not what you want to hear. But if your not willing to put your data in Google's hands (and I don't really blame you for not wanting to), then take the phone back and wait for the new Win Phone 7 devices.
Thanks for your replies. I also used the Touch Pro2 earlier this year, and more recently, the LG Fathom. The latter may be the last of the WinMo 6.5 phones, and that's really a shame, since it really worked well, just lacking HTC's Sense, Motorola's sound quality, and the latest generation's innovative 4.3" capacitive screens. Of course it synced perfectly, and all contacts were immediately available for voice command dialing on the phone.
Today I downloaded the trial of CompanionLink and installed DejaOffice on the Droid X. After the proper setup - which includes setting the Droid X to be in "USB Mass Storage" mode when connected via USB to the PC - it was able to sync calendar, contacts, notes and tasks.
BUT only in a manner of speaking. I promptly found out that I couldn't voice dial any of my contacts. Neither Calendar nor Contacts were sync'd with the Droid X's native Android apps; that required another, VERY long sync, having gone into DejaOffice's Sync Settings and selecting the options to ALSO sync with the Android native apps. And although I went into the Droid X's settings and deselected the option to sync my Google/G-mail account, I still suspect that my information went to the cloud - even though I didn't want it to - since the arrows under the Droid X's "3G" icon in the notification tray were gray the whole time, indicating data transmission. And despite all that, some of my contacts still mysteriously didn't make it into the native app, although they were in DejaContacts. So to voice dial someone inparticular, I STILL had to enter their contact info manually into the native Android contact app.
And all of my categories for all of my Notes were somehow stripped away when the Notes transferred into the Droid X; so now, they're all unfiled.
I don't know if I'm willing to put up with these headaches on a regular basis. But the preliminary reviews of Windows Phone 7 are very disappointing, and it can only be a matter of time before WM6.5 becomes so neglected that it's no longer usable. Oh well.
Zaphod! I remember fondly the Isaac Asimov novels.
MasonStorm said:
Thanks for your replies. I also used the Touch Pro2 earlier this year, and more recently, the LG Fathom. The latter may be the last of the WinMo 6.5 phones, and that's really a shame, since it really worked well, just lacking HTC's Sense, Motorola's sound quality, and the latest generation's innovative 4.3" capacitive screens. Of course it synced perfectly, and all contacts were immediately available for voice command dialing on the phone.
Today I downloaded the trial of CompanionLink and installed DejaOffice on the Droid X. After the proper setup - which includes setting the Droid X to be in "USB Mass Storage" mode when connected via USB to the PC - it was able to sync calendar, contacts, notes and tasks.
BUT only in a manner of speaking. I promptly found out that I couldn't voice dial any of my contacts. Neither Calendar nor Contacts were sync'd with the Droid X's native Android apps; that required another, VERY long sync, having gone into DejaOffice's Sync Settings and selecting the options to ALSO sync with the Android native apps. And although I went into the Droid X's settings and deselected the option to sync my Google/G-mail account, I still suspect that my information went to the cloud - even though I didn't want it to - since the arrows under the Droid X's "3G" icon in the notification tray were gray the whole time, indicating data transmission. And despite all that, some of my contacts still mysteriously didn't make it into the native app, although they were in DejaContacts. So to voice dial someone inparticular, I STILL had to enter their contact info manually into the native Android contact app.
And all of my categories for all of my Notes were somehow stripped away when the Notes transferred into the Droid X; so now, they're all unfiled.
I don't know if I'm willing to put up with these headaches on a regular basis. But the preliminary reviews of Windows Phone 7 are very disappointing, and it can only be a matter of time before WM6.5 becomes so neglected that it's no longer usable. Oh well.
Zaphod! I remember fondly the Isaac Asimov novels.
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"It's like Deja Vu, All over again." These are the exact issues and problems I ran into in my first encounter with Droid. At the time, I felt like the TP2 was a viable alternative to the Droid (wasn't nearly as fast, but had nice screen, better keyboard, etc.) so I just bailed out.
Much like you, I don't believe there is a viable alternative any longer. I too have no enthusiasm for Win Phone 7, and highly doubt that any advanced hardware is going to come with win 6.5X at this time.
I will also pass along this small piece of advice. Either embrace the cloud, or dump the phone. The more 'interconnects' you put between you and your data, the more frustrating this will be. It would be shame to have all of this power, and then limit its potential.
Instead of starting a new thread I thought this would be the best place to ask. First time Android user long time WM user so excuse my ignorance. I have an exchange / outlook setup that is working great with the corp sync of android but I have Notes that of course MS thought it was a good idea not to sync OTA. I used to connect my WM phone via BT or USB and sync the Notes with ActiveSync every couple of days or so to make sure they were updated on both device and Outlook. I know I can't use ActiveSync, what kind of solution does Android provide for this type of sync? I am open to anything as long as it is free as I don't really want to spend money on something that used to be free under WM.
Anyone? No one coming from a TP2 used notes?
I tried once more to sync the X locally, using the Mark/Space Missing Sync software (which requires Fliq Notes & Fliq Calendar to be installed on the phone, and Missing Sync on both the phone and the desktop). This too proved entirely too problematic, with ridiculously erroneous syncs that proved entirely unreliable for a business user.
It took another day of wrangling/justifying/coming to terms, but I finally relented and took Zaphod's advice to embrace the Cloud. gSyncit has proven to be a reliable, easy-to-use sync app for me, but it does require sending all of your stuff to Google, and then setting the phone to sync with Google. Calendar & Contacts work fine, and Notes works by syncing to Google Docs. The latter is then synced to the phone using the GDocs app, downloaded from the Marketplace. I've abandoned Tasks for now, but apparently it can sync by creating a 2nd calendar - a Tasks Calendar - in Google Calendar.
I'm also battling this Outlook to Droid X sync issue. I've come to realize the "best" way to resolve this is to give into Google's global domination plan and simply use my Google Calendar to sync via the cloud. However, I'm worried about duplication of meetings (which has happened in the past with the Dx using CompanionLink and DejaOffice, and with WM6.5 on my Imagio). My other question/issue is whether my contacts associated with my Gmail account have to be merged and subsequently synced with all my business contacts. My Gmail contacts include almost 1,000 email addresses, many of which I never use and don't recognize.
I'm also running Outlook 2007 with Win 7 64-bit. I've tried using Google Calendar Sync but it doesn't play nicely with 64-bit Win 7 (I guess that one sneaked up on Google?).
Any input is appreciated.
I work with small businesses helping them with handhelds and CRM. All my small businesses are using hosted exchange server for mail. Some use Blackberries, others iPhones, a tiny portion Windows Mobile and now I'm "dog-fooding" Android so I can find out what works. Believe it or not, only about 5% of my customers use Outlook tasks. Most rely on the calendar for task management. I myself do use tasks so I'm trialing Remember the Milk and syncing to it from Outlook using Gassumo Outlook to Remember the Milk sync. That's working quite well.
I've found that the contacts and calendar sync have some quirks that I'm coming to grips with - it seems sometimes to use File As, other times not to so sometimes the names are backwards. The calendar has been OK
I'm hoping PocketInformant for Android gets finished soon. They are beta testing now. I've been using it on Windows Mobile for years. It's very polished, those guys know how to build a handheld PIM.
Exchange is a great way to do OTA sync. You put the contact in Outlook and it's on your phone, same with calendar.
I'm a big OneNote user on the desktop, on Windows Mobile I used it only for a single purpose - to label photos I took of equipment I deploy. I would type the client, location, purpose and then take photos of the asset tags, serial numbers etc. To get them onto the desktop I had to USB sync but this system is very handy, if I needed to call Dell about a machine I have the asset tags right at hand. I'm looking at Evernote to take over that duty. I don't really care if it lives on OneNote, I just need to be able to annotate photos and get at them quickly during support calls.
I am having a little bit of frustration with managing my contacts and calendar on my galaxy s.
coming from a windowMobile user, I often use outlook to group, edit my contacts and calendar to keep everything orderly. Moving to Galaxy S, I only manage to sync with Kies ONCE to import my outlook contacts over. After that one time, kies stop working and I couldn't connect my phone to my pc except in mass storage mode.
I am sure I am not the only one here, so how are you people managing your contacts and calendar. Are there any other applications out there we can use? Clicking one by one of the phone is just too slow.
At least for me, Kies will not connect with USB debugging enabled.
Maybe you changed this setting?
I have no problem having it connected. If it's not connecting, ii usually reboot my PC, and disconnect then reconnect the USB cable.
My problem is that not all the contact records are synced over, and sometimes I says the value is not within the expected range then refuse to sync. At other times, the syncing stays at 0% completion forever.
In the case of calendar, it does not sync at all, while often also says the value is not within the expected range, while other times the progress bar refuse to move.
The first time I discovered it, after about 5 days of continuos but failed struggle to make it work, I gave up and entered the data manually. Yes, no joke, I manually recreated the data. But then, I did two hard resets after that. Now I simply give up and continue to use my iPhone for my email, calendar, and contact. I keep only a subset of my contact on my SGS to make calls, via the SIM card.
firmware problem
hi
i had problems syncing my calendar with kies. kies would crash everytime i click on calendar
now i upgraded to jm2 firmware and kies calendar sync works just fine
it was a firmware problem
i do it via google contacts, online.
everyone should have a gmail account by this date in computer age
I was found this problem once with my old laptop that was win XP. But with my new Window 7 laptop, nothing happens.
I just guess it is Kies not working well with win XP. What is your pc's os?
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I've found that Kies will not connect When I'm using ADW launcher. It complains about not being idle. If I run the stock Touch Wiz Launcher, I can connect with Kies.
My problem with the Calendar sync is that Kies does not sync Recurring appointments, so none of my standing meetings show up.
I wonder if it is because google has too much limitation in it's calendar as compared to window and iPhone. I discovered that in android, I can't set up appointments that happens once every two weeks, but I have such recurring items on my iPhone.
Guys, check miqlive.com. Outstanding. Supports both WM and Android and many other phones. Backups up calls, contacts, calender and SMSs and you could edit them virtually from anywhere over the internet through a PC. It is free of cost and I have done some initial tests to backup. It worked great. Looking to try restores from a freshly partitioned SGS. I have seen many successfully using them.
Yeah, I've been using MIQ since I had my Xperia X1 and just installed it on my Galaxy S and everything just got resynced without any worries.
Prankey said:
Guys, check miqlive.com. Outstanding. Supports both WM and Android and many other phones. Backups up calls, contacts, calender and SMSs and you could edit them virtually from anywhere over the internet through a PC. It is free of cost and I have done some initial tests to backup. It worked great. Looking to try restores from a freshly partitioned SGS. I have seen many successfully using them.
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Click to collapse
Storing anything on somebody's server is unacceptable solution to me though. It must be only to the outlook on my PC.
Hi,
My computer OS is window 7 Home Premium. As for problem with kies connection with the phone, I have no idea why it is not working. I have done multiple search on various forums, and found that a lot of people also having the same problem. Downloading the latest version of kies does not help.
Most suggested solutions are quite unacceptable such as hard reset or deleting all your mp3. Loosing all my data or mp3 everytime I want to sync are not good solutions.
I am really considering moving to the dark side and just upload all my contacts on google. Two major downside are that, all your contacts will be uploaded to the internet and google web application pale in comparison to what I am used to in Outlook.
denpongk said:
I was found this problem once with my old laptop that was win XP. But with my new Window 7 laptop, nothing happens.
I just guess it is Kies not working well with win XP. What is your pc's os?
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
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hear hear!
eaglesteve said:
Storing anything on somebody's server is unacceptable solution to me though. It must be only to the outlook on my PC.
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You can export you contacts to vcf from the phone itself (go into contacts, then settings) to the internal storage or an external sd card, then just put the vcf file somewhere safe. As for me, im not syncing calendar with gmail either. I got Kies working when i got my phone so i got to sync my calendar once, now it doesnt work at all. Tried all "fixes" but nothing worked. Im on Win7 64bit. MIQ is not an option either, i need to sync with outlook.
Hmmm, I don't have any problems like that with google calendar, it's actually got mor options than apple calendar. I have events recurring weekly, during footy season, bi weekly for work, monthly for bills. NP
Google Calendar Sync might be an option, it syncs phone with gmail and gmail with outlook and vice versa.
speedweed said:
Google Calendar Sync might be an option, it syncs phone with gmail and gmail with outlook and vice versa.
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Click to collapse
absolutely! but don't forget that one has to save every calendar entry and/or contact to the gmail account. Which is a bit of a hassle
New Kies update
Hey guys,
Check out the latest Kies update xxx74.2 it now syncs to Outlook properly - well calendar and contacts at least.
Still don't know how to keep my emails on my phone all the time.
my whole life is in my gmail account, calenders/contacts/email addresses.
i've sold my soul to them.
Syncing only over Gmail for Contacts and Calenders even Picasa photos. First i had the Google Calender Sync installed on my Computer to sync the Gmail account with Outlook.
Problem was that when i made an input on Gmail or Outlook, some hours later it was gone in both.
But since i don´t use it anymore, i never had any problems again.
I saw that HTC Sync 3 launched for a couple devices in Europe last week, namely the Desire & Wildfire. I'm wondering that since the Desire is virtually the same hardware as the Incredible if it will work for us. HTC Sync 3 adds iTunes synchronization and thats huge for me as I don't prefer the Doubletwist workaround. So I pose these questions;
has anybody tried it? if so does it work?
does anybody have a mirror to the software? I've tried the HTC site but it doesn't recognize the Incredible's serial number so it will not download.
Thanks in advance for the help.
i haven't tried it, but its reliant also on the PCSCII.apk and whether that supports it. I've heard reports it doesn't work with the Inc, but I have it downloaded somewhere so I guess I can try it out.
My bad. It works, at least for what I tried it with (wmp syncing).
http://www.mediafire.com/?4619q5oatwquf96
Awesome, thanks Adrynalyne... I was able to sync all my photos and my music with my PC using the version you posted.
Absolute must have! Thanks!
Outlook
Does it work with outlook contacts and calendar (which is ALL I use it for)? Thanks!
jdmba said:
Does it work with outlook contacts and calendar (which is ALL I use it for)? Thanks!
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Worked for me. At least it appears to have worked. I didn't get any errors. A picture of the Incredible actually pops up on the screen when connected to the device. I synced my music, and my contacts/calendar from Outlook 2007. Cool !
I can't speak to contacts/calendar/mail because i sync mine OTA with exchange, but it works beautifully for syncing music and other media. I honestly don't understand how HTC managed to go so long without releasing something like this.
Works Great!
Just intalled and it works great with my Inc.
Outlook, Itunes - this is awesome!
Seems to install and sync fine - except it can't see my sd card. Have I missed something?
rfarrah said:
Seems to install and sync fine - except it can't see my sd card. Have I missed something?
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Mine is a little funky with memory also-
The only thing it can see is my SD card - I dont see anywhere to change what it is looking at.
You can't. This version isn't specifically for the Dinc, so it doesn't have the ability. One would assume HTC will soon have a Dinc specific version out.
I don't care for Doubletwist either. I found TuneSync and it works perfect. Opens my iTunes I check what songs I want go to the app tell it what to sync done.
Hey I have android operating on my HD2 after using Froyo stone Sense 3.2. Everything was working perfectly and syncing with HTC Sync 2 until I downloaded HTC Sync 3.
Now, while it seems to sync ok, I can't actually open HTC sync 3 on my pc. When I open it, it just flashes up with Updating HTC Library and then minimises to the system tray. I can right click on it and select Synchronise but that's it.
I tried downloading it again after uninstalling the previous version. It allowed me to change the options on startup but now is doing the same as before.
Perhaps I have downloaded the wrong version of HTC Sync 3? I downloaded the one for the HTC Desire HD (i thought that was what Froyo stone is based on)
Any help would be appreciated. Alternatively, if anyone has the older version of HTC Sync, I think I would be happy to just go back to using that! I've tried to find a copy online, but no luck.
Not much help in this reply, I'm just reporting problems as well. None of my contact information, calendar items or pictures get transferred upon sync. The program is apparantly working on something because you see the progress bar counting up to 100%, but open Outlook and the results are bleak.
So I just got my Atrix from ATT, coming from WinMo 6.5 (Tilt2), and am a bit lost.
There used to be guides and such for people upgrading, but I've hopped on the train so late I'm having trouble finding a good one!
So feel free to point me towards better resources or useful threads on here especially from the perspective of WinMo to modern Android.
But for now, first question: what is the best way sync Outlook and my new phone?? I've got Outlook 2010 and have been building an address book in it since my MPx220! I know I could export/import a .csv but am far more interested in actual sync, with contacts and calendar at the minimum. Preferably free, but if not OK (as long as it works). So far I've tried MyPhoneExplorer but it can't see the phone via USB. Trying www.soocial.com now, looks interesting...
Is it ever gonna finish inspecting my 16GB card? Can't find a progress indicator anywhere...
I know it's not helping but just wanted to say that I'm exactly in the same boat with you. I used Windows Mobile since around 2004 (with mpx 220, tilt, and tilt2) and I'm kind of clueless about this whole android thing
Oh and I could not find a way to directly sync my outlook contacts with atrix either. Also, if you go with the .csv route, it does not sync some fields, for example Work2 phone.
fincan said:
Oh and I could not find a way to directly sync my outlook contacts with atrix either. Also, if you go with the .csv route, it does not sync some fields, for example Work2 phone.
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Def. try www.soocial.com It's free (as long as you're less than 250 contacts) and it's *ongoing* Sync like we're used to.
Goofy thing is, Google is said to make a calendar sync (outlook --> google), why don't they have their own for contacts??
Well, so far I'm a touch underwhelmed. Coming from the WinMo world I'm used to many things being customizable, often in the program, if not maybe in the registry or easily swapped out for other software.
I'm noticing a lot of dumb choices and a lot of things that don't give me obvious options.
Let's call it a Universal Inbox but it won't have your Gmail! There's a way around, you setup instead as regular IMAP email and use that app or end up using both email apps... grr! Better 3rd party alternative?
No 'file as' in contacts or ability to customize much of anything about how it looks, what it shows...
Friggin 'security lock timer' setting is disabled when using fingerprint!
Oh, and scanning my SD card *never finished*! After a couple hours (during which I couldn't install anything from the marketplace--though it gave me NO error to let me know why it was ignoring me pressing install!) I yanked the card. Maybe if I clear it out first?
Of course it's much (MUCH) better than my POS Tilt2, but I'm not quite convinced it's worth it, yet.
Your card scanning issue is not normal. IT STINKS! Something from the school of the united nations
Sent from my MB860 using XDA Premium App
I came from windows also. Companion Link is the only software to give you a true live sync between outlook and google calender and contacts that I have found. It wasn't free but I don't remember how much. It syncs your desktop outlook to your online google account which is automatically synced to your device.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA Premium App
For the contacts things you can always setup your gmail account as an exchange account in outlook and sync it that way, but then again it would be the same as syncing with gmail itself.
As for an outlook sync that isn't third party, there is no way to do it other than having an exchange account.
I found and downloaded a program called My Phone Explorer, it says it can sync outlook contacts & calendars if you install it's companion software to your PC. I did not have a chance to try it out yet, I'll update this thread once I try it.
Also, did you guys find out how to set custom ring tones? Like copying wav, mp3, ogg etc. files from my old phone to this and make them show up on the ringtone selections?
sdlopez83 said:
Your card scanning issue is not normal. IT STINKS! Something from the school of the united nations
Sent from my MB860 using XDA Premium App
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It had been in my Tilt 2 and had about 10gig of various files, some WM6.5 stuff (.cabs, apps, etc) and media. I formatted it and put back in the phone (couldn't do anything with it while it was scanning) and it was fine.
Marketplace didn't actually do anything when I hit install until the card was happy.
So far I'm pretty impressed with Android but not so much with this phone. The combination of not-latest OS with updates being locked to ATT/Moto's discretion worries me as the Tilt2 I'm coming from was absolutely crippled by the crap ATT OS version available (though at least it wasn't impossible to flash it!).
My other big problem is that while this phone is supposedly lightning fast, but how does that make any difference in actual use, since this dual-core CPU and nVidia chipset are a small part of a big and diverse market, for which the Nexus S and all the similar Samsungs set the baseline? Example, I noticed I can't play at decent framerate a 720p h.264 media file (.torrent downloaded Top Gear, 1.5GB on class 6 microSD), even in QQview--which can't seem to access the SD card directly (it only sees the ~11GB internal which is called SDcard), by the way. So what good does this extra speed do if there are no apps to take advantage of it? And how many others are going to have troubles accessing my new 32GB microSD because they only see the internal?
I'm also fairly annoyed by the lack of customization in the settings. At worst every damn thing in WinMo was customizable via registry. I usually find a setting each day in Android which I should have easy control over but don't. Example: notifications being the same volume for texts/emails as BS systems sounds I haven't figured any way to turn off... again a missing setting that's almost there: I noticed within text messaging and email I can set specific sounds (including silent) but for the overall system one there's no silent option (which would be overridden by the selected ones above)... Maybe there's some apps that do some of what I want, but having to pay or sideload are both kinda foreign concepts to me, especially for small system hacks!
But on the other hand it's very responsive, does seem to play 720p Xvid torrent downloads OK (though I haven't watched one all the way through), and the voice features are great.
One other annoyance is that while BT links to my car automagically it doesn't link to my Panasonic handsets at home unless I turn BT off and back on for some reason...
So given how much I paid (premiere, non-contract) I'm leaning towards return. Wish the damn ATT-bands Nexus S was out!!
but, more importantly did you get the critic references?